(5) Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. (6) And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou. (7) And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time. (8) For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. (9) Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. (10) And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men. (11) Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Daniel even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. (12) So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. (13) Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there. (14) And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.
The close of those verses throws a light upon the whole matter contained in them. Nothing but the overruling power of GOD could have made Absalom and his party attend to such advice as Hushai's. It was impolitic: it was foolish: it was cowardly. But, the LORD taketh the wise in their own craftiness. Job 5:13. But, Reader, here again, as in the former instance, behold a nobler subject suggested to our meditation in the view of JESUS: Though the Ahithophels of our LORD's day, and the whole council of the Jews all joined together to kill the LORD of life and glory; yet in all they designed, and in all they wrought, they only (as the apostles, in the prayer, beautifully expressed it) did that which the hand and counsel of the LORD determined before to be done. Acts 4:27-28. Oh! it is a precious thing in our holy faith, ever to eye the LORD in all events concerning JESUS and his people.